Spanish Springs resident James Biela, the suspect in the Brianna Denison kidnapping and murder, has been arraigned and is in custody without bail, Washoe County law enforcement agencies announced at a press conference Wednesday.

The arrest gives local law enforcement agencies a focus for investigation in the sexual assault and abduction of the 19-year-old Denison, who was last seen Jan. 20 and whose body was found in February near Sand Hill Drive in south Reno.

"I want to thank the community and do want to recognize (Denison's) family for the thousands of hours of people who volunteered when we didn't know where she was," Reno Police Chief Michael Poehlman said Wednesday.

Biela, a pipefitter, is a former Marine and skilled in martial arts.

Poehlman revealed that a tip led police to question Biela. Upon additional investigation and DNA analysis, police had enough evidence to charge the 27-year-old Wingfield Springs resident for Denison's kidnapping and murder.

Biela is also charged in a different case of first degree kidnapping and sexual assault of a University of Nevada, Reno student in a Dec. 16, 2007 incident that occurred at 1425 N. Virginia St.

After his arrest on Tuesday, Biela gave a DNA sample that was compared with a reference sample obtained through a seizure order from Biela's 4-year-old son. The analysis links Biela to the Denison murder and possibly to other crimes in the area, authorities said.

A Secret Witness tip, submitted to the police on Nov. 1, prompted authorities to keep Biela under surveillance and on Tuesday they took him into custody in the 1300 block of Corporate Boulevard in Reno, Poehlman said. At the time of the arrest, Biela was picking up his son from preschool.

The tip, Poehlman said, came from a friend of Biela's girlfriend, Carleen Harmon. Biela has a child with Harmon.



"That Secret Witness information indicated Biela's activities and behaviors made him a likely suspect," Poehlman said.

The girlfriend told police that Biela had left Reno in March to take a job in Washington state. Around that time, he sold his vehicle, a Toyota pick-up with an extended cab, in Idaho. The truck, Poehlman said, fit the description Reno police were looking for in their search for a suspect after Denison was found dead.

Later, when the tipster called Secret Witness, she told Reno police that Carleen Harmon, Biela's girlfriend, told her that she found a pair of women's underwear in another truck Biela owned when he came back from Washington state in September.

Steve Frady, spokesman for the Reno Police Department, confirmed Biela's sale of his first truck, which remains in custody of the Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Police Department.

Underwear was an important clue in the investigation because two pairs of panties that did not belong to Denison were found near her body.

The DNA from both pairs led authorities to believe that Biela is linked to two other assaults, including the Dec. 16 case.

Denison's murder resulted in more than 2,200 tips to local law enforcement.

District Attorney Dick Gammick said at the press conference Wednesday that he and Elliott Sattler, who has been designated as chief prosecutor in these case, will work together to bring about the maximum sentence for Biela, which would be the death penalty for a first-degree murder charge.

"I kept telling you that he will be caught and because of my undying faith in the people we have in this community and the organizations and associations and the link we have between federal, state and local agencies ... I knew this day would come," Gammick said.

Gammick said there had already been meetings prior to the press conference Wednesday to decide how best to proceed.



"This individual has held this community at bay way too long," Gammick said. "This is what I call home terrorism."

Washoe County Sheriff Mike Haley expressed sympathy for Denison and her family.

"No one should have to suffer as Brianna Denison suffered," Haley said. "No family should have to endure the long-term consequences of that suffering."

Laura Denison, Brianna's aunt and board member of the Bring Bri Justice Foundation, thanked the community on behalf of her family.

"We're pleased that this person is off the streets so he cannot hurt anyone else," Laura Denison said. "And we want to thank the law enforcement, the media and the community for working together as a family and not giving up."

Poehlman pledged the agencies' continued efforts to bring justice for the Denison family.

"Tomorrow we'll be having a wonderful holiday with our families," he said. "Unfortunately, too many families in our society will not have a member with them because they were a victim of violence."



The Associated Press contributed to this report.